lesthegrngo

Thanks! Les

Thanks for the explanation, I have a BBI-32 and this is easy enough to replicate on a PCB especially as I always mount mine on a custom PCB. Cheers Les

Vinc, got it about the 10 position needing only three pins, I was under the understanding that position 9 required ON-OFF-OFF-ON, but I didn't realise it only went up to 7 in game - thanks for that, makes it simpler. I'll have to rig up some limit pins for the selector wheels so they only rotate through the required range, but that's a detail. As you state, Mega seems the way to go, I have a spare and can combine the IFF and any other device with a selector wheel on it. And thanks for the sketch, that's going to save me a bundle of time and head-banging! Once I have some working parts I will post the .sldprt and .stl files on grabcad for anyone to get for the selector wheels and housing Cheers Les

Thanks for completing the feedback - often people don't report back when they find a solution or (as I have found sometimes) they realise something was wrong with the way they were being used. I have to say that your experience with Bodnar stuff is in line with mine, I have nothing but praise for them and the way they operate. A question regarding the rotary switches - can you limit them physically to a certain number of positions, or is is a constant rotation 12 position switch? Les

Hi all, Vinc kindly pointed me to this thread as I was working on my own version of it without being aware of this. I started a separate thread about making things like the IFF panel. At the moment I have moved in to a house, but all my stuff is not due to get here until mid to late December, so I am having to work completely theoretically. This means I can't do the usual and go and physically try something. As a result please bear with me if I ask what appear to be rather stupid questions. Looking at the above I believe I would repeat the this part of the sketch below for each selector wheel changing the iffModewheel1Pins statement to for example iffModewheel3Pins to reflect each wheel, and the pertinent pins. const byte iffMode1Wheel1Pins[4] = {5, 6, 7, 8}; DcsBios::SwitchMultiPosBCD iffMode1Wheel1("IFF_MODE1_WHEEL1", iffMode1Wheel1Pins, 4); That being the case, clearly we are looking at a total of 25 pins for the whole IFF set of six wheels, which means that a Nano is not going to be able to work with more than three wheels in practice. Is that correct? I have no issues using more than one Nano, or even an Uno or Mega if that is what it requires, but need to know so I can design the PCB correctly. I also assume that the common connection goes to the 5v pin? Cheers Les

They look good Vinc.... but the overall cost is going to be significant once you cover all the switches. For some essential ones, yes, definitely, but for non-esential ones? I have little to lose by trying. I've ordered some of this stuff "PrimaCreator Value Flex UV Resin" as I need to make some handles and flexible parts for my driving rig too and some cable management parts. Not too certain it will be flexible enough for this idea, but if it works it may provide a cheap solution for those lesser used ones That's a good point about the curing, again it is worth seeing if that is an avenue, as I know that some resins actually shrink once they cure fully. Not much, but maybe enough? Cheers Les

Thanks - as it happens I used polyurethane before for moulding when making bits for scale modelling, and I must have the majority of the stuff left somewhere. And as for silicone, the only thing it really bonds to is more silicone (ask me how I know...), however maybe an insert 'sock' in a harder resin part to make one fit the other snugly..? I suppose a bit of experimentation is in order. One of my design limitations is that everything I make has to be flat packable Ikea style, for cases like right now when I move countries. As a result while I would like to be able to be less compromised with the stuff like the toggle switches I have to accept it. In a lot of cases, truth be told, many of the switches are used rarely, if at all, during most of the sim use so it is not such a bad one. Where possible I do use the nice big ones where they are used regularly during gameplay as without a doubt the tactile quality is just as much a part as the visuals. But I do have to be realistic and realise that I have to prioritise where to put my effort. Another part is the ability to design something that makes a lesser solution work when all you can get is certain parts, which I imagine is something a lot of people on these forums appreciate - I immediately think of the rudder pedals made from bicycle handlebars! Cheers Les

Hi all As I have a lot of time on my hands to look at bettering bits of the rig, one topic that kept cropping up when designing the panels was that the toggle switches I am using are not right. The types I'm using are the little single and double pole ones with the blue plastic bases, the larger single pole ones with the bakelite coloured base and the even larger single pole ones with the bakelite coloured bases. All the ones I'm describing are the easily found cheap ones on fleabay. The problem is that while the larger ones have nice solid levers, often space requirements mean they don't fit, meaning that I end up having to use the little blue ones. A collateral benefit with those is that I have machined my PCB's so they direct mount, making a much tidier installation. The downside is that the actuating levers themselves are somewhat anaemic, looking disproportionaltely small and skinny for the panels they sit in. So I have been wondering how they could be improved, and knowing that there is no way I can replace them due to the construction of the switch, I thought about covers. I have a resin 3D printer, and browsing through the different sites in search of knowledge I came across some flexible resins, and started wondering if it was possible to 3D print a flexible resin sleeve shaped internally to fit snugly on the switch lever, but with the external shape of the correct panel switch toggles. It's going to be Christmas before I get my shipment and therefore all my stuff so I can't test this out yet, but wonder if anyone has researched this method before, and if so whether there was any succes with it. I can get some resin to test eventually, but right now I am not sure how much elasticity is in the material. There are pourable two component silicone rubbers out there so maybe they could be moulded using 3D printed moulds, but suspect that silicone rubber would not have the strength. Another thought was using the silicone rubber as a bonding agent to stick covers over the toggles. Anyway, as usual any feedback and thoughts are very welcome Cheers Les

Fantastic, thanks Vinc! Les

Not the cheapest way but certainly that would do the job exactly, nice spot. I'd never heard of them. I searched fleabay and found some SMD cheapo chinese ones, I will order some to have a play with. With a 3D printer I may be able to make the appropriate wheel. I'll obviously have to learn how to interface them with an arduino too but one thing at a time.. Thanks again Les Nice one! Les

All, I have been thinking about how to approach the 10 position selector wheels on physical panels for a while now. My TISL panel uses mini rotary encoders worked by some laser cut acrylic wheels, and the display of the digit is a tiny little OLED panel. It works but is a bit complicated especially for little used panels. I really enjoyed making it as a learning and test case, and it has the advantage of displaying the correct digits no matter the starting position of the encoder. However in reality it is just making a complicated way of simulating a glorified ten position rotary switch with a numbered drum next to it. Of course, while it is simple in operation, making a homemade version is another issue; I can count the number of small ten position rotary switches I have found online on the fingers of one elbow. Using a rotary encoder is out of the question without a digital display due to the fact that it simply selects the next position rather than a specific value, plus I think the RE's I used on the TISL were 18 positions per rotation. Size is a big part of the problem, there are a lot all packed relatively tightly together So I have drawn a blank on how else to replicate it in an economical and DIY friendly way, so I would be really interested in hearing anyone's ideas on how they would approach it or how that have actually replicated it Cheers Les

I like it; things don't have to be high tech to work well! Admittedly part of the fun for me is designing and building nice looking kit, but a look at this shows me how you can think out of the box to come up with a simple solution. Kudos. Les

Thanks! Les

I'm currently just using a couple of LCD segment displays to show the time numerals, but would like to replicate the full face of the clock. Has anyone tried doing this? I will eventually try doing so myself if noone else has, but with so much left to do on the left console it is pretty far down on my priorities. However if someone has, I would be able to complete the dash rather than coming back to it! Cheers Les

I found the link to the previous thread, take a look here Since then I've done a load more, once I can I will post them Les

Nice one Vinc; I was looking at putting in the RPM 10th guages, and was going to try to use micro stepper motors, but this seems a much better solution. To the original poster, I started a thread some time back which did what you asked, with working sketches I made with hardware descriptions . Let me dig out the link and paste it here for reference Les

Thanks So do you find it changes the FPS of the main monitor or is it completely independent? Cheers Les

Ok, if it doesn't just clone that's great - on the description it said this "Supports to implement the synchronization and extend display. Could connect with two external monitors at a time. Please note that the image on the two external monitors will be the same." Looks like a neat solution then! Thanks Les

That looked good until I realised it only clones the display! Thanks for looking though, appreciate the help and thought. If that is not possible, is it then possible to have a slave PC attached, connected over a network that I can output data to with its own GPU and decouple it? Les

Fair point; unfortunately I have a total of 5 monitors and the 1070 only has four outputs, so not sure how I will escape that. Les

Thanks Vinc The main monitor is 2560 x 1080, and the 1070 has 8Gb The smaller monitors are all 1024 x 600, although two are porttrait, with the 1060 having 3Gb, but the level of detail on the lower monitors is relatively low. I can even set them as lower resolution I suppose Cheers Les

Hi all, I am using one large widescreen monitor for the main game screen, and then have four small lower resolution (10 inch or 7 inch) LCD monitors that are used for the MFCD's, artificial horizon and RWR. The GPU's are a 1070 and a 1060. Am I right in thinking the best way to hook these up is to run the main widescreen monitor off the 1070, and the other four off the 1060? Cheers Les

Can I ask where you bought the 5" TFT? I got one from Buydisplay but due to a locked in font issue it shows corrupted characters here and there. Cheers Les

You can use one nano for both fuel quantity servoes / steppers and the fuel quantity oled because the refresh rate does not need to be high, the indication changes slowly. Things like the altimeter, VVI etc can't be on the same nano as the rate of change of those guages needs to be high, and there will be a lot less smooth movement of the gauge and flickering OLED indication, at least in my experience Les

If you want helical gears, I can make .stl files for you if you give me .dxf files of the flat gears Cheers Les